Every year more cars and motorcycles, combined with the lack of investment in transport infrastructure, increases travel time, pollution and economic loses, ultimately generating social problems and a reduction of life quality in Phnom Penh. This is an architectural and urban project that imagines a new public transportation system for the city, proposing a prototype Public Transit System through a network of lines and stations with the creation of a detailed map system, including underground stations and exclusive lanes for buses. The project also explores landscape architecture to beautify the city, as well as accessibility for persons with mobility challenges.

A video and panel demonstration of a new model housing unit which is affordable and sustainable both in design and choice of materials. Through an efficient layout, rent is reduced by 50% and the ecological impact and carbon footprint significantly reduced. The design was originally made by Tengbom as a proposal for modern student housing and 22 units are currently being built in Sweden. This truly compact-living flat offers a comfortable sleeping-loft, kitchen and bathroom. Tengbom has collaborated with the local architecture firm The Room Design Studio to propose compact living units specifically for the needs of Phnom Penh.

Mixed-use and hospitality development has recently been mushrooming over Phnom Penh as population and foreign investment grows. As the city plans its future goals, this project raises awareness on the issues that the city will need to consider, using examples from other international cities. This work pinpoints certain buildings in Phnom Penh that are key factors in urban planning by mapping their locations on a city map, simultaneously referencing other cities around the world. As Phnom Penh develops, a unified vision for the city is essential. By envisaging its potential as a global city, we can create awareness for the new generation of Cambodians.

In his work ‘Waste Vision’, Chhim Sothy examines the themes of the environment, waste disposal, inconsistent public and government behaviours surrounding waste management and disposal, cleaning up the city and taking pride in the cleanliness of Phnom Penh. The artist turns pieces of trash, collected from streets across the city, into art. Using collage techniques he creates a large-scale vertical mounted installation, displaying Phnom Penh rubbish like you’ve never seen it before and offering a new perspective on the city’s waste.

This work examines the rebuilding of Phnom Penh after the massive urban exodus that took place at the beginning of the Khmer Rouge regime. When returning to the capital, the most fortunate residents returned to their own homes, but many others found their homes occupied. The displaced began filling free homes like a musical chairs game. But what happened when there were no homes left? This project is a study, using the mediums of photography and painting, on the social meanings of public and private space, and the “homestructing” that occurred during this period of Cambodia’s history.

This installation is composed of 24 pieces of art made using collage techniques and acrylic painting on paper. Each piece of art represents one of the artist’s 24 teeth. The project seeks to establish conceptual poetic paths between art and the inhabitants of the city, and looks for ways to dilute the barriers between art and life. The artworks are not for conventional sale, but instead will be exchanged for new toothbrushes; 24 toothbrushes for each artwork. The goal is to donate 576 brushes on the last day of the festival to residents of Phnom Penh.

A collaborative project between architects and artists, showcasing new and innovative ideas for the city of Phnom Penh, from the perspective of the city’s residents. The city’s economic expansion has been followed by a period of tremendous construction, with many public buildings and much land being privatized. This speculative city focuses on globalization and development of private enclaves, but what does the public think of this? For this work, interviews were conducted on the city streets, asking members of the public what are their “ideas for the city”. These ideas are be mapped onto a large-scale physical model of Phnom Penh city.

This project tackles the questions of one’s rights as a human being, and our rights in the city. The installation is made of bricks, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights painted onto them in Khmer. The declaration can be read as one walks around the exhibition, creating a meditative process and allowing audiences to reflect the meaning of basic human rights in the face of atrocity.

A continuation of ‘The Black Wood’ (OCF 2012), ‘Still’ is an exhibition of sculpture, photography and mixed media investigating notions of home and security in the urban environment. The work studies the plight of vulnerable and displaced communities in Phnom Penh. Urban growth and development is seldom a straightforward process, but how can communities in our city navigate experiences of suffering, and what is the value of resilience in the local urban consciousness? These questions significantly impact both the physical shape and cultural character of Phnom Penh as the city moves into the future.

This work was born from an idea of mixing the magic of a photographic moment with circus performance. But is the magic of the circus related to the specific place and time, or is it independent? In this work, circus performers are taken out of their usual circus tent and performance schedules, with magical moments being recreated in daily places of the city, such as markets, roads, and street lamps. This project aims to spread the magic of the circus to the streets of Phnom Penh for Our City Festival.

As city residents become increasingly distanced from their history and environment, this project aims to build increased appreciation and awareness for the protection of landmarks and buildings across the city. The work represents the voice of these buildings, crying out to be resurrected, renovated and protected.

Look out for six yarn-stormed cyclos moving around the city! Cambodia Knits takes the ancient craft of knitting but uses it for contemporary expressions through the playful gesture of “yarn-storming.” Cambodia Knits has dressed and covered six cyclos in collaboration with the Cyclo Conservation & Career Association, which can be found moving around Phnom Penh and at festival events.

An improvised story set against the abandoned buildings of Kep, a Cambodian coastal city popular with holidaymakers in 1960s before the Khmer Rouge came to power. This video work explores the memory of these ruined homes through the eyes of a young boy. Re-imagining his playground for the first time, the boy relives, through sound, the ghosts of excess and war.

From inside a tuktuk, meet ChildSafe Network Members and learn how they protect children in their daily lives while enjoying a refreshing drink and snack available for sale from community stallholders. Extra shade will be provided by ANZ Royal umbrella.

Cambodia Knits invites the public to discover knitting through a hands on workshop—after a 5 minute lesson, anyone can knit! The ancient craft of knitting takes on contemporary expressions through the playful gesture of “yarn-storming.” Cambodia Knits have dressed and covered 6 cyclos in collaboration with the Cyclo Conservation & Career Association, which can be found moving around Phnom Penh and at festival events.

Epic Arts performers and choreographer Becky Devitt work to raise awareness and educate people on the dangers of motorbike driving in Cambodia, through humour and physical theatre. The performance will be followed by a movement workshop and discussion.

Starting with a sunset performance on the roof of the White Building, Bonn Phum Nov Bo-ding is a series of multiple cross-platform exhibitions and events taking place throughout the neighborhood, with participation from the White Building community in both shaping and enjoying the events. As a historic, iconic, dilapidated structure in the fast-changing Phnom Penh city, the White Building usually serves as a site for popular tourists’ snapshots while being cloaked in stigma associated with poverty, drugs, sex work, petty crime, dangerous construction and poor sanitation. Artistic and creative knowledge and resources of this unique urban community is little recognized by the public. In the context of Our City Festival, the project hopes to celebrate the White Building as an active and creative community, potentially an example of a creative mini-city, by turning the neighborhood into a large collaborative shared space of creativity that engages with both the White Building and Phnom Penh residents. The event will be the largest creative intervention in the White Building to date, featuring a retrospective of works created since 2010. This event is organised by Sa Sa Art Projects in partnership with Aziza School, Big Stories Co. (Australia), and a number of the White Building residents.

This work is part of an ongoing series of documented performances in which the artist intervenes in the spatial and social context of various cities. Previous iterations of the work include Samnang Cow Taxi Moves Sand, Phnom Penh, in which Khvay collected sand from the city streets and delivered it by rickshaw to a Bodhi tree on the eroding banks of the Mekong River. Video and other documentation from this ongoing body of work has been exhibited in Australia, Cambodia, Germany and Japan. In its playful scenes, the work reflects at once on the local context and on its connections to transnational exchanges.

Official launch of the local community art archive and library space, and the www.whitebuilding.org online archive. This is a living audio and visual art archive produced at the White Building by residents and visiting artists. Open for public access: 19-26 Jan, 2-6pm. Location: 1st floor, between 4th and 5th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Exhibition of a photo series created by the AZIZA team at the White Building during 2012 and 2013, offering a unique perspective on life in the neighborhood. Curated by Lim Sokchanlina. Open daily: 19-26 Jan, 2-6pm. Location: Sa Sa Art Projects, 2nd Floor, between 4th and 5th stairways. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Artworks appear among the market stalls, restaurants, hairdressers, shops and storefronts along the ground floor of the White Building, featuring a variety of installation and documentation of performances and a retrospective of work produced by Sa Sa Art Projects and Aziza School. Location: Along the ground floor shopfronts at the White Building. Look for signage. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

From inside a tuktuk, meet ChildSafe Network Members and learn how they protect children in their daily lives while enjoying a refreshing drink and snack available for sale from community stallholders. Extra shade will be provided by ANZ Royal unbrellas.

Created by Epic Encounters performers and choreographer Becky Devitt to raise awareness and educate people on the dangers of motorbike driving in Cambodia, through humour and physical theatre. The performance will be followed by a movement workshop and discussion.

Cambodia Knits invites the public to discover knitting through a hands on workshop—after a 5 minute lesson, anyone can knit! The ancient craft of knitting takes on contemporary expressions through the playful gesture of “yarn-storming.” Cambodia Knits have dressed and covered 6 cyclos in collaboration with the Cyclo Association which can be found moving around Phnom Penh and at festival events.

A parade of musicians riding in cyclos, “yarn-stormed” by Cambodia Knits with the Cyclo Conservation and Careers Association, will ride down Sothearos Blvd and arrive at The Mansion where a group of hip hop dancers from Tiny Toones will be waiting. Together they will form a Flash Mob at 5:30pm, bringing together classical and contemporary forms of music and dance.

Artworks appear among the market stalls, restaurants, hairdressers, shops and storefronts along the ground floor of the White Building, featuring a variety of installation and documentation of performances and a retrospective of work produced by Sa Sa Art Projects and Aziza School. Location: Along the ground floor shopfronts at the White Building. Look for signage. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Filmmakers and special guests will be present to introduce their films. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Join us at the Festival Lounge, the official Our City Festival bar at The Mansion.

Day 1, Sunday 19 Jan, 2014
Film: Cambodia 1965
- Production: Khemara Pictures
- Color, 56 minutes, 2011, with music sound
- Summary: The film shows how the Phnom Penh city and other part of the Country were in 1965. It also reveals the development during Sangkum era.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Join us at the Festival Lounge, the official Our City Festival bar at The Mansion.

Day 2, Monday 20 Jan, 2014
Films 01: Cambodia, a country to be redone
- Production: Television Francaise 1 (TF1)
- Color, 24 minutes, 1979, Khmer
- Summary: This report captures Phnom Penh before its revitalization as a depopulated city with outdated infrastructure. The film displays a traumatized populace seeking to unite after the departure of the Khmer Rouge. Also included is an interview with Heng Samrin, President of FUNK (National United Front of Kampuchea).
Film 02: Welcome to Visit Phnom Penh City
- Production: Direction du Cinema et de la Diffusion Culturelle
- Color, 20 minutes, 1988, Khmer
- Summary: This documentary shows the views of Phnom Penh and its main places of the decade 1980′s. Beside this, it shows the Khmer tradition and custom. It also shows the rural area in Cambodia in the period of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea and the State of Cambodia.

A series of recent artworks from Battambang that include portraits, public interventions, memes and shadow-play through moving images, featuring the works of Loeum Lorn, Long Kosal, Make Maek, Mao Soviet, Michael Laub, and Studio Revolt. Screened from the Romeet balcony – audiences are invited to sit and view the screening from the stall opposite whilst enjoying some local street food. The works will also be screened in the gallery 20-26 Jan from 10am to 6pm.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Organized by Meta House, this exhibition highlights the documentary nature of works by the late Svay Ken. The artist set out to record the daily life around him and avoided the grand landscapes of temples and idealized pastoral life that swell Cambodian galleries. The undistorted paintings in this exhibit of friends and family, of survival under the Khmer Rouge, of illness, and of ordinary street life, display the seeming simplicity of style and sophisticated mastery of craft which are the brilliance of Svay Ken’s work. With characteristic humbleness, Svay Ken once said, “My paintings are like a camera of my life of sixty years.” That his work also gives dignity and history to the commonplace lives of the resilient fellow citizens he so much admired is also his genius.

Join us at the Festival Lounge, the official Our City Festival bar at The Mansion.

Day 3, Tuesday 21 Jan, 2014
Film 01: Phnom Penh and Development
- Production: Support Children and Young People
- Color, 12 minutes, 2012?, with music sound
- Summary: This video showcases the general development in Phnom Penh city.

Film 02: Young in the City
- Production: Direction du Cinema et de la Diffusion Culturelle
- Color, 40 minutes, 2008, Khmer with English-subtitle
- Summary: These are twenty short videos directed by journalist students from Department of Media and Communication of Royal University of Phnom Penh.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Join us at the Festival Lounge, the official Our City Festival bar at The Mansion.

Day 4, Wednesday 22 Jan, 2014
Film 01: the Connection
- Director: Bruce Morrison
- Color, 22 minutes, 2003, English
- Summary: The Connection features the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority’s advances towards the goal of providing water for all city residents.
Film 02: Cyclo
- Director: Pov Sok
- Color, 23 minutes, 2011, Khmer with English sub-title
- Summary: Cyclo has been existed in Cambodia since the French colonization. Today, Cyclo becomes less interesting to the passengers than it was. This moving portrait reveals the story of the Cyclo and situation of the drivers.

This group exhibition approaches contemporary performance practices through their relation to the city. A 90-minute single-channel screening features twelve videos by nine artists and a reading station offers contextual material from the past and present.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

Presentation from a performance art workshop facilitated by Anida Yoeu Ali with visual art students from the Royal University of Fine Arts, on themes including defining performance (history and pioneers); regional exploration of performance art; dance, performing arts, and theater; and finding meaning (the personal vs. the political). The event will include a screening of a series of videos selected by Amrita Performing Arts on the theme of “dance around the city” where dancers respond directly and physically to their environment. A Q&A will also take place with performers and choreographers, in Khmer with simultaneous translations into English and French.

Join us at the Festival Lounge, the official Our City Festival bar at The Mansion.

Day 5, Thursday 23 Jan, 2014
- Director: Yvon Hem Phalla
- Color, 48 minutes, 2008, Khmer with English sub-title
- Summary: With a dramatic story of a young high school girl Ravy, the film shows youth problems that cause concern for Cambodian society today: absent in class, drugs use, having sex at young age…

Advancing Engineering Consultants work together with Mith Samlanh children, in collaboration with other NGOs and public schools, to reinvent the city through workshops and hands-on activities such as designing and testing small structures made from toothpicks and imagined city structures from Lego. The public is invited to view the results, participate and children are encouraged to add their own structures to the Lego city.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

This exhibition presents the story of the Kouk Khleang Youth Center as an encouraging example of sustainable building in the South-East Asian context. Featuring presentations by Komitu Architects, Building Trust International, Architetti Senza Frontiere Italia and Community Development Foundation. Our cities and the built environment consume more than 40% of all the energy produced in our societies. In order to fight climate change and to make our societies more sustainable, architects, engineers and other professionals of the built environment will need to be better educated of the impact of buildings and how to make them more energy and resource efficient.

This bus tour, presented by Komitu Architects, visits sustainable architecture projects across the city including the Kouk Khleang Youth Center, Habitat for Humanity and Community Development Foundation projects among others. Our cities and the built environment consume more than 40% of all the energy produced in our societies. In order to fight climate change and to make our societies more sustainable, architects, engineers and other professionals of the built environment will need to be better educated of the impact of buildings and how to make them more energy and resource efficient. Departing from Meta House at 8.30 am and return at 4 pm, with a maximum of 25 participants. Please bring your own drinks and snacks for the tour! Please register your attendance at http://bit.ly/19UiScd

Jorng Jam brings together artists and their own relatives and friends to reclaim, remember and reinvent the past through old photographs, objects and stories.x. After their investigations, each artist creates new work and gives new meaning and context to the histories they have revealed. Featuring photography, film and mixed media. Original photographs will be exhibited alongside new work. Collaborating artists: Neak Sophal, Kong Vollak, Kim Hak & Neang Kavich, and Pip Kelly (Asialink) as Creative Producer. Jorng Jam is on display: Jan 25 – Feb 3, 2014.

A nightly mini-festival of cinema at Chanthy’s Cafe at the White Building, featuring film and media works produced by Aziza Film School, Sa Sa Art Projects and the White Building Residents. Location: Chanthy’s Cafe, ground floor between 3rd and 4th stairways, the White Building. Follow signage at entrance corner Sothearos Blvd and St 294. This event is part of Bonn Phum Nov Bo-Ding (Village Festival at the White Building) organized by Sa Sa Art Projects.

On the Streets is inspired by the vendor cultures of South-East Asia, where sidewalks and plazas are an essential meeting ground for commerce and social interactions. This exhibition is a comparative look at the effects of globalization on public communities worldwide through observations of their vendor cultures. Participating artists create new work that consider the theme from the vantage point of their locale: Boston, Los Angeles, Phnom Penh, Saigon and Vienna. They meet in Phnom Penh to produce collaborative actions that respond to the imperatives of mobility and displacement in a South-East Asian locality.

An exhibition of designs, models and 3D animations by architecture students that were created in response to a workshop on Design as Activism and Community Upgrading facilitated by Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT). The workshop focused on two vulnerable communities: Andong and along the Railroad tracks, and asked the participating students to develop design solutions that are economically accessible for the residents and provide a dignified living. During the exhibition STT will announce the prize winners of the competition.

This event is a literary reading centred around poetry. The event will feature approximately 10 readers of all styles, backgrounds, ages, and skill levels, with a particular focus on young writers. Speakers will be pointed to the street outside the festival venue, and the speakers will give amplified readings to the city residents, creating a performative dynamic but also encouraging an open platform for responsive dialogue from the public after the readings.Featured readers include: Antoine Chute; Chanpal SOK; Kara Krystin Spore; Chheangly YENG; Jimmy Kiss; Chantha LOCH; and Kan PICH.

Cambodia-based collective Common Sole aims to spread creative ways of performing, learning and teaching through improvisation processes, collaborating with artists from various territories and backgrounds. Their common language and methodology is the art of improvisation. “Preah Chan Chos” is an ephemeral installation and site-specific improvised performance in and around The Mansion. The work is a gathering of various performers under the influence of the moon cycles, exploring the natural and architectural forces that simultaneously bring us closer together and distance ourselves from each other.

This exhibition celebrates the human elements of change and development in our society. Hands are the expression of the individual, each with the ability to create, to heal, to hold. Hands of Change launches a collaboration between Angkor Hospital for Children and Weaves of Cambodia, a partnership based on empowerment of collectively changing a society for the better.

A series of paintings focused on the children and youth who work on construction sites, the graffiti and urban visual language meld with visions of the workers, signs and symbols that speak of expectations and of the tomorrow which they are literally building. They have no face because they protect themselves from heat and dust wearing kramas or t-shirts. Boys and girls become identical, anonymous ninjas.

Light Study utilises the unique internal courtyard of one of Siem Reap’s landmark buildings, the Park Hyatt, to consider perceptions of space and form within an urban milieu. Bradley explores the potential of light and sound as mediums for illustrating perception, and how they can be modeled to create space and form. In this work, the audience’s visual perception is augmented, spatial reality is skewed and the viewer becomes unavoidably implicated.

Designed and produced by the graduates of the LHA Sewing School, this exhibition features a selection of Khmer and Western fashion pieces seen through the ages, mixing traditional and modern styles in response to the globalization and influences of tourism on Cambodian fashion.

The Color of Ozone is a series of installations featuring works on the theme of trees, oxygen and the ozone. Oun Savann and children from The Global Child Foundation. This event is part of the Made in Cambodia Market, organized by Shinta Mani. (Made in Cambodia Market a new monthly market & street fair, that brings together the most exciting examples of craftsmanship in Cambodia today. Free and open to the public, the market is held at Shinta Mani Resort Hotel Park, Siem Reap, on 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month from 4–9.30pm.)

Art-Bin: To Stop People Hating Bins by Oun Savann and children from Learning Foundation, aims to change the aesthetic face of bins, and the wider public opinion of bin use in the community. This installation is part of the Made in Cambodia Market, organized by Shinta Mani.

The CLA-sponsored Wat Bo shadow-puppet troupe performs “Sor Neakabas”, a tale from the Reamker, Cambodia’s beloved version of the Ramayana epic. This dramatic episode features fighting, tears, nagas and a magical arrow, which come into play when Preah Leak is wounded and saved by the king of the Garuda. This event is part of the Made in Cambodia Market, organized by Shinta Mani.

Based on a vision of how Siem Reap could look with an alternative historical scenario, this exhibition depicts the main architectural ingredients emphasizing contemporary Cambodian architecture and it’s strong personality, whilst generating an imagined narrative.

Phare, The Cambodian Circus, offers this brand new show exclusively for Our City Festival. The art, grace and distinct pace of the circus meets the hustle, the bustle and the rush of Siem Reap in a spectacular cabaret.

A contemporary dance-piece directed by Bob Ruijzendaal on the theme of searching for connection, and in the conceptual sense, falling down and standing up again. Through physical movement and performance, the piece examines the concept of being alone, yet together at the same time.

This video projection expands on the idea of how tourism effects the spiritual experience of the Temples of Angkor. Originally reserved for religious activities, these structures are now some of the greatest tourist attractions in the world. This project simultaneously compares the traditional past with the developing present and explores how they influence each other, all the while questioning the sustainability of the temples.

A photo series by Rafael Winer and Sasha Constable shows images of the Sacred Dancers performing a traditional religious ceremony in Angkor Wat, which is normally seen as a tourist attraction. These images show a different cultural consideration, highlighting their role, as originally intended, to communicate with and celebrate their gods.

This video installation Mon Boulet (2011) follows the journey of artist, Svay Sareth who pulled an 80 kilo metal sphere 320 kilometres from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh for six days in 2011 as an examination of human endurance and the absurdity of victory. Symbolizing Cambodia’s complicated history, the sphere also echoes the Greek mythological King Sisphus who had to roll a huge boulder up a hill to only watch it roll back down again, and continuously repeat his actions as a punishment. The artist thinks of the sphere like a mirror of the past and asks whether it also reflects the future.

This photo essay examines various locations in Siem Reap and analyzes their level of accessibility for residents with disabilities. This work was created by six members of the Jesuit Centre with varying levels of mobility.

The children and electrician apprentices at Grace House Community Centre explore the effects of Siem Reap’s growth on rural life just 4 kilometers outside the city. This installation focuses on the lives of families in the rural villages who struggle to pay for intermittent electricity supply, most who only have access to a light, TV and fan.

A short film featuring timelapse sequences of Siem Reap landmarks and daily scenes. The timelapse technique allows us to see small changes that occur over time and serve as a testimonial of the rapid urbanization of the city.

Led by photographer Kim Hak, this workshop encourages participants to explore their views on the city of Battambang through the medium of photography. The workshop goes beyond photographing Battambang’s architecture and brings the city’s inhabitants, environment, economy and culture into focus. Participants are encouraged to look at how these themes can impact and benefit social and community change in the city. From 9am-10:30am each day participants have the opportunity to learn how to best use their camera as well as different photographic techniques, then from 2:30pm-5pm participants will move around the city and countryside to practise skills and explore other photographic ideas. The workshops will run from 5 – 8 Feb: all day Wed, Thu and Fri, plus Sat morning. For reservations please email artsviet@gmail.com.

The Battambang Art Tour by tuk tuk is designed for art lovers, students, collectors, dealers and curators. It will offer insight into the arts community and industry of Battambang via visits to galleries, schools, studios, meet-ups with artists and watching artisans hone their craft. The tour covers multiple disciplines of art practiced in Battambang including contemporary, performance, traditional, sculpture and installation art. The tours on Friday and Saturday are in Khmer and on Sunday in English. For reservations please email artsviet@gmail.com.

This work examines the phenomenon of flooding in Battambang and its effects on people’s livelihoods. It highlights the health dangers of floodwater, including bacteria and sewage, while considering ways that floodwater can be recycled in order to be used safely for daily water usage. Flooding dangers such as landslides and damage to heritage buildings of Battambang, as well as appropriate and long-term rebuilding of damaged infrastructure, are raised. Through performance and photographic installation, the artist propositions audiences to consider effective ways to deal with flooding, including better waste management and increased education for people living with floods.

This work uses the metaphor of black ink on white paper to examine the theme of writing, literacy and the book of life. The white colour of the paper represents the purity, honesty, truth, and the clean slate of a child’s conscience. The black of the ink on the other hand represents the ignorance, wrongdoings and suffering of adulthood. The work looks at the cultivation of education, hope and love in life to direct how the black ink fills in the page.

The Street 2.5 “Artwalk” features an art market with local artists selling crafts and locally produced items, street performances including Khmer dance and Lakhaon, as well as music and performance art. Street vendors and nearby restaurants sell local specialties, while surrounding galleries including Make Maek Art Space and Lotus Galleries are open throughout the evening. Featuring both traditional and contemporary Khmer arts, the “Artwalk” is a true celebration of Battambang arts.

This self-guided tour, running throughout the weekend, offers a unique journey through Battambang featuring icons and symbols which have been created especially by artists during a pre-Festival workshop. The project provides a platform for the wider community to access the city and explore the space they inhabit in non-traditional ways, all with the goal of citizen empowerment and effecting meaningful change on issues raised by urbanization.

This performance work is based on the theme of sickness and social disease, both in an individual and physical sense, as well as its wider environmental and societal forms. Using the symbol of the glass cup (Keo Jup), widely used by Khmer people to cure illness, the artist re-imagines sickness as something to display and expose to the world, rather than a thing of shame to hide behind closed doors. The themes of strength and resilience brought out through illness are also examined through this performative work.

Amrita Performing Arts is a contemporary Cambodian dance company based in Phnom Penh. For this year’s Our City Festival Amrita invited individual artists, groups and organizations to share existing, or create new, dance films that explored the idea of ‘Our City’. The program features nine short dance films celebrating the cities of Battambang, Kampot and Phnom Penh.